Combined electric railway and signal system.



PQW. LEFFLER, DEGD. A. A. LBPPLLR, ADMINISTMTBIX.' COMBINED ELECTRICRAILWAY AND SIGNAL SYSTEM. 4APPLICATION EILBD AUG. 13, 190s. EENEWED116.1

o, 1914. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

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A. A, LEFFLER, ADMMSTBATRIX.

COMBINED ELECTRICl RMLWAZ AND SIGNAL SYSTEM,- APPLIQAHOH FILED AUG. 1s,190s. RENEWHD AUG. io, 1914.

A. L 100mm@ Mmm .m9 SIGNAL ssTBr. APPLICATLFQN FILED JUG. 113, 1908.LEREWBD AUG. 10, E914. ko v Paiened Mar. 36, 19h51 9' SHEETS-SHEET 5.

P, W. LEFFLER, DECT.' A. LBFPLBR, ADMINISTRATRIX.' COMBINED ELECTRICRALWAY AND SGNAL SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 190s. EBNEWBD AUG.1o, 1914.

L'T? Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

9 SHEETS-SHEET W. LBPFLER, DEGD. A. A@ LEPPLBR, ADMINISTRATBIX. GOMBNIDELEGTRIG RAILWAY AND SIGNAL SYSTEM. APPLoA-Tron FILED AUG. 1s, 190s.BBNHWBD AUG. 1o, 1914.

1,131,717 hmm@ Mar. w, 1915.

9 SHEETS-SHEET' 'l- 'P. W. LBFFLER,.DECD. l A. ummm, ADuINIsTnATRIx.GQMBIHED ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND SIGNAL SYSTEM.

A APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1.9078. BENEWBD AUG. l0, 1.914. 1 1 3 1 ,71 7 Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

9 SHEETS-SHEET a.

.. '5 Y W v aac-5 l. W. LEPPLER, DECD.

A. A. LEI'I'LEB, ADHINISTBATBIX. E COMBINED ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND SIGNALSYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED 5116.013, 1908. BEHEWED AUG. 1'0, 1914. 1,131,717, Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

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; entre. afnnrrnnn, Aniviiirisraainix or To terrina nnncrnrc SYSTEM, or

COMBXNED ELECTRIC RAILVIAY AND SIGNA Specication of Letters Patent..

Patented Mar. 16,11915.,t

ppication le .august 5.3, 1908, Serial No. 448,270. Renewecl'August 10,1914. Serial ITo.i856,153.

To all whom 'it concern Be it known that PAUL W. Lnrrmnn,

Chicago, in the county of Cook and Sta-te of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful improvements in Combined Electric Railway andSignal Systems, and l do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of Athe invention, such as will enableothers skilled'in the art to which it appertains to make and use the acitizen of the nited States, residing at same.

My invention has for its object to provide an etiicieiit combinedelectric railwayand signal system; and to this end, my inventionconsists of the novel devices and comloinations ofdevices,hereinafteidescribed and pointed out in the claims.

The invention lis illustrated in the accompanying drawings, /whereinlike notations4 refer to like parts throughout the severalv lNews.

ers, partly iii'elevationiand partly in section,

with some portions broken away. Fig. l is a view of the upper endportions of one of' said block towers in elevation. The parts shown inFigs. 3 and 4 go together to make up a complete tower. Fig. is a view ofsome ofthe electric devices shown in Fig. 3

detached frein their housing' tower, to-wit, the three solenoids and thecircuit connections-contacts which they control. Fig. 6 is a horizontalsection on the line fr" m5 of Fig.

Fig. T is a horizontal section on the line ai? .'eiof Fio- Fig. 8 is ahorizontal section of the parts shown in Figs. 10 and ll. .Fig 13 is across section on the line m1? w13 of Figs.` l1 and l2; and Fig. 14 is aView representing .the car body in side elevation, and the car trucksand road-bed in vertical lon-A gitudinal section, with some parts brokenaway, Figs. l5 to 18k inclusive are diagram views illustrating abuttingsections of .the roadway and track magnets and the wiring of the samefrom the feeding side of the supply circuit. These vicwsabut inthe orderin which they are numbered reading from left to right.

The signal system, herein disclosed, was designed to supplement theelectric railway system disclosed in mycompanion application, 448,269,executed and filed of even date herewith. The electric devices aresupplied from a common source overa commonmain circuit which extendsalong the entire line of travel, and the shunting'connections, whichrender the electric devices active .oiythe propulsion of the car and thesetting of the signals, are subject to the control of the car. A closecombination, therefore, exists be.- tween the peculiar electric railwaysystem, disclosed in my said companion application, and the electricsignal system herein disclosed and claimed. For'tlie purposes of thiscase, however, it has not been deemed necessary to detail all oftliejparts of the electric railway system disclosed in my said companioncase; but. on the contrary,v only such parts of the railway s vstemliaieheen illustrated as deemed essential to makeclear the interdependence ofcooperating parts of the two systems. So far practicable, theillustrated parts common to hothcascs will he marked with the samereference notations. From the broad point 4ot view, the railway systemherein disclosed is within lthe principlesof my foundation prior U. S.

Patents 514,118 and lil, ho'th of date February 3, 189i, and some ofthef'eatures disclosed or referred to are coifcred by my priorPatents561,898 of date June 9, 1896, and 573,822 and-573,823, both ot dateDecember 22. 1896.

in the diagram views, Figs. l and I? and in 14, represents the car trackrailsvand a the sectional third rail or conductor. The said sectionalthird rail is insulated from the ground vand its sections areiiisulatedfrom each other. IThe cartrackv is divided 0E into blocks of suitablelength, say of one mile, more or less, and the rails a2 at the vends ofthe blocks are -insulated from each other. vvAt the ends of these..track blocks are located block' towers a5 (see'Figs. 3 and 4.). In thesetowers are located automatic rheostats for. properly directing thevcurrent of the main supply circuit and other electric devices. whichoperate under the control of ,the car to affect the signals, as willlater more fullyfap thecar, as hereinafter noted, to propel the v v`noting the main parts of the supply circuit.V

ear. From a sofi? iron base bar b, resting on and secured to the tiesa1, rise the cores or' polepie'cesof the eld magnets. These pole lpieces are wound by turns of wires b2 and b3, which vcooperate with saidpole pieces to form. ,the magnets of the field. These field magnetsextend along the entire railway, on the median 4line of the roadbed,suitably spacedapart 'from each other and .when connected into thesupply circuit, hereinafter noted@ coperate with the non-rotatingarmature andthe pole changer carried on said car' along. the track.

In Figs.. 1 and 2. ofthe drawings, the` windings' are not distinguishedfrom the pole' pieces, but the magnets made up of-said parts are'markedwith the reference b1. The windings of the said magnets are so appliedthat adjacent magnets will have opposite polarity. Thefurther'peculiarity of said windings can bebest understood after The.dynamo c,vshown in Fig. 1, is a D. C. series wound dynamo adapted todeliver a predetermined constant current (preferably of about 7 5amperes) and is of the kind which' is. regulated automatically to varythe voltage as required to meet the load. For example, said dynamo maybe ofthe ldnd and regulated in the sameway as the' dynamosl which wereformerly used for arc of double return conductor permits they signallamps to be connected in between the two in multiple, as'will laterappear. A pair of switches marked, respectively s1 and s2, are locatedin the supply circuit at the power house, with the former'so arrangedthat it will cut out the supply from the dynamo, and the latter soarranged as to cut out the resistance 1" between'the two conductors ofthe return branch of the circuit,

thereby enabling the other electrical devices supplied from the dynamo.y

The outgoing or feeding conductor 01, of .thesupply circuit, is made'upof ction's which are .mechanically separated at the rheo'stats, in theblock towers, but are electrically connected by the contacts andresistance coils of said .rhecstatsg so that these rheostats, at theblock towers a5, may be said to divide the feeding branch of the supplycircuit into sections which correspond to lights cf the signal lamps ytobe out 'out without cutting out thethe track blocks. Having furtherregard to said rheostats, each section c1 of the supplyconductor,which'enters a given tower, ends in along terminal contact c4 Aat therheostat; and that section of said supply conuctor c1, which leadsfrom-the tower, has located therein,at said rheostat, a series of'resistance coils and contacts marked with the common reference c5, allin series with each other, and more or lessv of which areadapted to beconnected with-the .terminal contact c, according to the position of amovsov able bridging contact c6 which is carried by and insulated fromthe core of'a solenoid d, suitably vsupported within said tower.VNormally, the core of the solenoidd is in its ylowermost position, and,'when so. located,

only enough of the coils c5. will be connectedv into the supply'circuitto afford aminimum resistance; and the normal path for .the current, onthe laiiupply circuit, from said dy-y namo .is through thesaidrrheostats with minimum resistance;va or, otherwise stated,

the supply circuit is normally Vclosed through the rheostats; and theCurrent has nov other whereupon a new or easier-pathlis afforded, aswill presently appear.

Returning now to the magnetic field or` track magnets extending`alongthe line of the cars travel it'should be noted that the cores orpole pieces of saidtrack magnets' b1 are wound by two separate wiresmarked respectively "b2 and b3l andl lwhich* connect vpath until a carcomes ontoy aV track block,

with the supply circuit and Vbest shown in Figs.'15 to 18- inclusive.These four Views abut in the order vinwhich they are num-- bered readingfrom left to rightand lmay be assumed to show that portion; of thelroadway including 30 of the track magnets l b1 starting-with. the thirdvfrom the right as illustrated in Fig. 2 and countingto'ward the left.Let it also be vnoted that Figs. 16v

and 17 illustrate a. portion of thepr'oadway over which thev car istravelingas illustrated in Fig.l 2, but in these -diagram views Figs(The positions of these brushes serve to iny dicate the position of thecar in respect to' 16 and 17 only the car brushes e2 are shown.

that portion of the roadway. The arrows in the wires Z22 and 3 as shown-in Figs. 16, 17

and 18, indicate the track magnets which are circuit can 'then pass overthe Wires b2 and The reasons for winding the solenoid magnet d withcoils of different-cross sections and for having the corresponding Wiresand to carry the maximum current, and also to avoid the danger' to human`life which might result from the accidental bridging across the' 'maintrack and the sectional third rail. By .having'the arrangementdisclosed, the

shunt is gradual.

- according to lthe speedof the car. V'The track or field :magnetsb1will, therefore, co-

operate with the non-rotary armature f on 'thecar to propelthe'car alongthe track;

Said5ca'r has three brushes e2; 'and two of l tical With those disclosedyinl/my foundation Patents 514,718 ,and 514,561 of date February 13th,1894. -If the'electric car shown 'in i this case be assumedl to beequipped with the electric devices disclosed in my said prior patents,then the system as a Whole would be @opera-tive, for -the .propulsion ofthe car;

but inasmuch as the signal systemfherein disclosed, is intended forusewith the system for propelling cars, disclosed in my said companionapplication, the supply both forv thetrack magnets, making up themagnetic Y,field extending along the line of travel, land for thelelectric devices on the car are 'assumed to be' from a common source,to-wit,

' the dyna lo c of the kind described and to be delivered over thecommon. supply circuit extending along the line of travel and 1ncludingthe sectional third rail and the car as part of the connections, bothfor the field and the electric devices carried by the ca r.

Bearing the foregoing statements in mind,

and referring back to the diagram views, it

can be seen-that Whenever a car comes .on to a given bllock of the cartrack, its brushes and trucks?` Will form a bridging connection fronithesectional third rail a3 tothe track rails c2; ahd, hence, that thecurrent from the main ,feed conductor 01 ofthe supply b3, and magnets221 to the sections ofthe tl ircl rai'l pn Which'the brushes arerunning,

andpass thence over. thecar trucks to one of the track rails which,v asshown isthe outer rail; and further, that the current'l can pass thenceover the circuit connections for l the'solenoids al and h2 and back to ajunc-` tion Withthe feedconduc'tor 01 of the mai-n supply circuit.closes the eld circuit, a small portion of the supplyy current can passover the said solenoid circuit connections or shunt, even While thebridging contacts c6 and d3 remain `in their'lowermost position, asshown in the rheostat-at the right in- Fig. 2, for the reason that onlythe minimum resistance is in the normal path of the current atthe rheoofthe solenoidA d in the rheostat controlling the field magnets of a givenblock Will be energized instantly as soon .as the car comes on to thatblock;` and, hence, 'that the core-of thelsaid solenoid d will be raisedto its limit. and carry-With it the bridging contactsv c and-"d3 so asto bring these partsinto the position shoivn in the central rheostatillustrated in Fig..2, and as soon as this occurs, it is obvious thatthe bridging contact c Will bring into the feeding sideV of the supplycircuit a makim'um resistance or number of coils 05 at the rheostat, andthat the bridging contact d3l will be in position to coperate with theleadsv d? of greatest cross section. -The said maximum resistance whichis connected into the'feeding side of the supply circuit, at

y'the rheostat, when the bridging contacts thereof are in theiruppermost position,is greater than the resistance afforded vby theconnected-in section of the track field, the car armature magnets andthe pole changer on the car, and, hence, as-soon as this maXimumresistance is connected into the supply circuit at the rheostat of a`given block, the current-of the supply circuit ivill take the easierpath 'through the track or .field magnets 1 to the sectional 4third raila3and thence through the pole changer 77 and nonrotating armature fofthe car, and back to the outer member of the track rails a2, and

Hence, as soon as the cara stat. It, therefore, follows that the magnetThe car body e is provided with anon-ro# tary armature f and a suitablepole changer p, as vshown in Fig. 14, and Whiclipole changer is'subj ecttothe underlying track or field magnets b1 and operates to commutatethefcurrentthrough the magnets ofthe arf mature so' as tol changethepolarity thereof,

thence Will pass over the shunt .circuit connections therefrom throughthe solenoid d of one rheostat and the solenoid h2 of an adjacentrheostat, and therefrom back to a junction With the conductonc1 of thesupply circuit on the opposite side of that rheoi stat. The saidshun'ting circuit connections through the solenoid 0l of a givenrheostat, andy the solenoid h2 of an adjacent rheostat, therefore',become part of the Working pathof the supply current, when the car vison theV track block controlled by that rheostat.

lith the system organized as illustrated, the car is assumed to bemoving toward the right, .and thelcartrack'block controlled by a giventower is'at the right of said tower; and, hence, the car shown in Fig. 21s controlling, primarily, the electric devices in the adjacent tower atthe left of the car; but,

as it will presently appear, however, thecar mami? e-.lsoccnlrollingcertain signal devices in fisio othe;F towers'. The inaincurrent vwhich i ken oil' from the field circuit h5? the car ies, ps1sses through the pole changer D thx. 'windings o the car armature ,fhevit passes .to the car track and thence f 'ifi-c solenoid snuniiconnections. om the foregoing, the electric system reselling car shouldhe suiiieientlj.y It for the pnv 'es or". this case. The 3 dependent onand suppleU di. Coysaid car propulsion system will de ieribed'.

.al aystemfilnitrhly supported, ck tower, are a pair of sional conigsolenoids nia-rl( l, respectively, f2.2 pair of semapnore levers marked,.rively, l# and fc4; and tiro sets of inspent lamps inarkedn entirely,nl. and ff The core Volf the solenoid k2 is connected ir; red fr* withthe semaphore lever if; and 2. xore' oi' the solenoid ,7a2 is connectedby 'el c' with the'other semaphore lever ,25%. core of said solenoid 7a2has, Yat its loner adenending har of insulating inat the core of theso`enoid ,lf2 has at end a depending o r 25 ci insnlan aerial. .t setsci' lamps nl and n2 are connected anv multiple, as hitherto noted,between conductors c2 of the return branch supply circuit from theynano. For purpose, a Wire n cross-connects tile said o wires e2 of. thereturn branch of said ,ipplycircuitg into this loop the 'opper set lampsnl are directly-connected and the wer seto lamps n2' are indirectlui7connecten ov a supplemental. Wire 'n3 tapping the "wireu'nl between thesolenoid 2v2 and a switch n? located in said lamp circuit; The lampcircuit Wires n and are both sectioned, on the lampl side of the switchn4; and the hars of insulating material and 705 depending :from thecores of the solenoids and k2 carry, at their loner ends. siidi marked,respectively, cfr las n' erste, respectively, 'with spring conncts'n7and-ns forming the terminals o said seo i-ioned Wires, toconnect thepropersections thereof, at the proper time, under the action of saidselen ids and 732 corr trollefd by the car. Normally, the pairs sofspring contacts and nanars separated ny the insulating hars h5 and a, sothat both branches of the lamp circuit "ill he open; or, otherwisestated, the paris i stand as shown in the tower illustrated in llig. l,Said solenoid 71.2 is in the main shunt from ythe-suppljT circuit,ashitherto noted when training the connections through the rheos'tatscontrolled by the car. flfherotner solenoidkz, at each tower, 1s alsolocated in shunt from said main supply circuit. t,For 4this purpose, aWire k leads from one org'tne *5 carftraek rails a? to the ci' thesoienoid e2, and from this a. Wire icl' leads back to a. junction withthe Wire it leading out from that tower and on to the next solenoid k2and heingpart of the .main shunt hitherto noted. For distinction, theshunt over the Wires ,74 and icl may be called a minor shunt. Bearingthese relations in mind, the actions of the solenoids 7L? and 7a2 on thesignal devices, under the control of the car, can he readily`understood. The lanips and their oulls-eye lenses are marked with thesame reference letters. Each set of lamps have two of these lenses,izo-wit, one colored red and the other colored green facing in oppositedirections. ln the diagrams, the red lenses are indicated jf' *verticalshade lines and the green lenses by oblique sli-ade lines. The upper setof lamps have their red lenses 'to the left and their green lenses toIdie right; anc i. the lower set, a reverse relation is maintained. Thelamps are 'thus adapted to either direction ofthe cars travel.

lie main shuni: Wire d; an(l the' minor shunt Wire connect opposite endsof the track block. rail. Hence, as soon as a car cornes onto a hlocl, aportion of the current which comes on tothe car will he shiinted oersaid two dierent shunt circuits. The eii'ect of this will he that partof the current which goes over the Wire il?, or the one in 'advance ofthe car as shown in Fig. :2, --will pass irst through the magnet of thesolenoid h2 of the tower in advance or the car, as there shown, andthence come hack over the Wires /fl and z. tothe magnet oit the solenoid,lf of the central tower or one which is controlling the iield sectionsof the block occupied h, the car; While, the saine time, the currentwhich is taken on over the main shunt :trein the block occupied by Vtheear, through the wire Zi tothe xrmnet ci the main solenoid (l, ai.. thecontee s di, and di, *will ,go ont that tower, on the Wire fz whichleads so the solenoid ft2 o? the next tower to the lei 1 and, hence, thesolenoid if at the central and the next adjacent tower to the left willhe holding their cores in their uppermost posiiioi'is;y and the magnetof the solenoid ing in the tener at the right will he holding its corein its uppermost pov sition. The magnets of the other two solcnoids ifWillhe Without current, and, hence, their cores 'will be in theirlowerincst positions.

noids .'f'z? at the central tower, and the solenoid h2 ai he next towerto the left will he holding their contacts 72,5 in position to close thelainp circuit through the upper set of lamps lnl and in position to holdthe senianhorelever at each said towers, in itsL uppermost position.These towers are hothhehind the car,.and will thus he showing the dangersignals to any car approach;- ing from that direction. lhe solenoid k,in advance or" the car, will he holding its cor lt, therefore, followsthat the solein its uppermost position, thereby holding up the semaphorelever ist at that tower, andholding thel contacten8 attached to its barkin position to close the lamp circuit .through the lower set of lampsThese are the clear way signals for the next block in advance ofthe'car. If, however', it had 'happened that there was another car onthisadvance block, the current passing over the. vminor shunt -lc for thatblock to thev next towerinadvance would be coming hacky over the wiretothe solenoid h2 of the right lhandtower shown in Eig. 2, therebycausfingthe said solenoid h2 to lift the sama .phore lever to itsuppermost position and to bring theI contact m5, carried by its core, inposition to close the lamp. circuit through theupper set of lai'nps nl.Otherwise stated, the danger signals would also be facing the car, asshown in Fig.. 2. rlhe designis, therefore,psuch that there shouldalwaysbe at least two blocks between any consecutivel pair of 'travelingcars, and unlessthe motorneer meets only the go ahead signals,he knowsthat there is danger ahead. Otherwise stated, .thesignal' system is ofsuch design. as, to insure safety signal lights l' both in advance andintherear of thecar,

on any.,block, in 'either direction 'of travel, andto insure dangersignals againstv an approaching car in either direction, for a olis-vtance of two blocks ahead and one block hehind any given car. It'alsofollows from the nature ofthe electriclconnections de.

scribed, that no current is available to the track magnets within theinsulated track.

block directly behind the car; and hence,

even ifthe signals of danger should bey ig-- nored, no power would heavailable tothe approaching' car from the rear. There is thus a doublefactor of' safety provided against rear-end collision, which is thechief' one to guard against in a double track system. A s soon as a carpasses ofi of given track block, both shunts from that blocs will becutout, and, hence, the solenoids Il? and k2 in the third tower behindthe oar,

going lin the direction shown in Fig. 2, will under the control of thecar, from passingthrough any of 'the .solenoids at the said tower. Thesedevlces include a pair of hand switches s3y and s4, a short wire e5 andsuitable contacts for coperation with the saidl switches inv their twodifferent positions. When. the said switches .gaand sA1 are in theposition shown in the diagram views Figs. 1 and 2the solenoids 'atthetowers will be connected in to thel shunt circuits provided for thesame, under .thecontrol'of the car.

if, however, the said switches s and' s* are turned down into theiropposite extreme po- .sitionsLallthe shunt 'connections will beshort-circuitedso as to :keep the 'current from going through any of thesolenoids at .that tower. Considering lirst the switch-33, when this is'turneddown, vto its lowermost position, the current supplied over wirevd'1 `and which wouldotherwise go on to. the solenoid d will passdirectly'to the 'wire h at theswitch and on to the next left hand tower;and the current which came over this wire it from the right hand towerwill pass over the short circuiting wire S5 at the central tower to thesupply I'conductor cl of the main circuit to the left of said tower.

Considering the switch s4, if this is in its lowermost position, thecurrent which would come in from the sectionof the supplycom ductor c1at'the right, will go directly out over the wire S5 and on to the nextleft hand section c1 of said supply conductor; and the current whichwould come -in over the shunt wire 7cv will pass directly out to thewire fr' which leads on to the next-left hand tower. yThe switch at inthe lamp circuit at each tower has already beenv noted, and its actionis so obvious that it needs no explanation. These switches at the towersare desirable for the purposes of inspection and repair. vFrom theforegoing detailed description, it is obvious that, in this system,there is employed. a substantially constant current but a variable'voltage according to the load; that the connections for controlling thesignals, and the connections for controlling the supply.- to the trackmagnets, for propelling the' car, "both depend upon the automatic,

rheostats at the block towers. If it were not for thelimited amount ofresistance norfinally the supply circuit at the tower rheostat, nocurrent whatever would be shuntedfwhen'the car comes onto a vv,givenblock.; and, of course., it would ollowthatthere would be no poweravailable to .propel peiling systems herein disclosed are depend# entuponleach other. f

Frornlthe detailed description, it' is 'obviens, the shunt'circuitconnections for h oth thaiuaior and the minor shunts gare.

soy

15.110 the car.' and no power available to set the" signals. 'f'lo thisextent,fthe signal and proiis normally open between the sectional railand the el r track rails. The car and its brushes do the bridging soasto close the Vshunt circuits 'at the times'whenrequired for thepurposes stated. It takes the cary and the automatic rheostats,therefore, to control both the propelling and the signal systems. Thesignal system has so far been described. chiefly with reference to theshowing thereofv made in the diagram views, although all the parts notedwill he found illustrated in more or less of the other views. Theviewsnumbered 5 to 13, inclusive, illustrate Liemeer il? the struclureof the block towers, tl e signal devices supported thereby, and thestructure of the supports for the electric controlling .devices whichare housed Within the enlurged lower portions of said tower. Thesestructures are so clear from the drawings themselves, that eny extendedexplanation Y of details is not deemed necessary. lt be serviceable,however.. to briefly note a few features. f By reference to Figs. 10, 11and l2, it will be seen that the lamps and their hullseye lenses aremounted Within housings e6 adapted to sleeve over the upper end of thetower mast and thereby be renioS/ehly secured thereo; sind this housingfr@ hes itself a. removable cap a? affording access o ehe lamps from thetop of the tower Without the remo 'al of the housing. The parl; of Ashetower niast which supports the pivot shafts of the semaphores h* and71:4 is provide@ with removable closures as affording access to the seidshafts on the interior of r tower, es shown in `figs. 117 i2 il". rTheseclosures .aysliuig ouwzrrol 3o are; clearance for the insiue criurlsiirs 1 l sen'iaphores io which the rods en;l connected. l he enlargedlower p each tower is also provided rfiih opening a9 (es shown in F by aremovable closure, to arlorfl ecce ,the solenoid magnet-s and cherheosler vices inclosed Within. saidv parl; o the over as a housing. The `three soleneids fr* eno. k2, at each ower, are su'iporierl by e.cor?. mon skeleton iriiroe Q shown rleiiichco Fig. unil rf'hich .freineg is minoterl f. l Within the enlarged part. of the ower able way. Theof sciiti freir y which supports l" suoli .1- struction -hzu'g itsupports the f rsiecl resistence coi c c5 whirl cooperate with the hrirncon-'reci ce at rire rhef as shown ir'. the 'elisiejreins coils c arealso shown in lli @also supporre -fiie serie :if `which cooperare rfihlends Z2 fr magner of solenoid (Z end Contact shown in ille ci The sei.'r Ae is also oi' su. that it will properly guide the s coniacts es and523 und the insulating l rod depending from the core of l noicl andcarrying she said hril Atacts ehi-s lower end.

)refine ln Figs. and 8, 4the correcting surieces Glvlil of the bri ngcontacts 0 enel is are s as in the erin of hrushes yielding/'ly 1 portedby f* ring holders marked with the lsame reference letters as jcheeon'ocs.

Ey reference to Figs. 5 and 9, is will he een that "Ehe spring contactsnl and 72.8 forining terminals or" the lmnp circuit wiz-esj@ and ma aresupported in such e way as to be lt must lie unclerstood that theinvention herein disclosed and cliirnecl may he einboclied in nianiiolrlforms oi :i rrucion;

anch hence, that *che 'derail be Widely serieel wihout deps spirit or myinvention.

What l claim isil. rlhe combination 'Wih e cer and ritraefor the saine,of electrically oeretel signaling cler'ices spaced spar from eachotheralong the line of lie chris zreveh a -lvninio of theype andconstrncioi'i which oV e. 'substemiall.;T con-stuhl; preeermined currentbut Variable in voltage according tc leed, n circuit from seid fljfn Yno into which the said signaling cleric-es are conriecefl in shunt byscifi. car arial eucrne'ic rheess's in zio. circuit controlled by thecer, seid sie; heling devices being' connecte-rl :lrouurl seiflrlir-,ostes, subsi-enti; as described.

'llie oornhinatien with track snail :i

il may i the l ng Smil L rick, .e meelllie supply cir- U 1 .t. rr dynamoof `bhe nnrl construction milch delivers a sul ally cousziutcur-- rentbut variable in .e ege according to loafl, seid dynamo being conne-credtosriil supply circuit signaling devices et the "toire ers located innornmlly opened shunts 'from said supply circuit, and automaticrh'eostas in .said supply circuit at "die said towers, controlled Lyseid cer :incl refrulating the cur- V u s rent rleli cref sifrfrlingdevices.

Tl e

'for lle seule, least one rsi', viflell into bloc-.lis msu' z :rseciiionul sbirri sulsteil from i "from the grown@f signaling Wei for.each of seid truclr blocks, u il apli' circui, fi dynamo supplriiig cuto the l circuit anal 'which dynamo i of the type ariel. om? structionwhich delivers e. substantiriliyon stanlcurrenr but variable in volfageeccomi g, of hloolr eu'ers spaced apart from esch ing to 1oad,'electrical signal devices at Said towers, located in normallyopenadshunts from said supply circuit and including as, elementsthereof, sections' ofsaid sectionalthird rail and track rail,*a 11dautomatic rheostats in 1Ulerisa'rdfsupply circuit, one at each of saidtowers, normally connected to' close the supply circuit at thesaidrheostat, but operating under thecontrol ofthe car to regulate theamount of currentA delivered -to said shunt circuit connections-"andthereby operateI the said signal devic,.substantially as described. 'ij-,-l 5.. The combinatonjwith aV car, of a track for th same, vatleastone rail of which is div vvided into .blocks insulatedfromeachother,

a Sectional third rail having its sections insulated from each other andfrom the ground, signal towers, one at each of said track blocks, ametallic supply circuit, a dynamo' supplying current to said circuit andwhich dynamo is of the type and construction which delivers asubstantially constant current butvariable in voltage according to load,electric signal devices at said towers lo- .cated in normally openedshunts f rom said ysupply circuit 'and yincluding as'e1ements Y thereof,sectionsof said sectional third rail and of, the Said sectional trackrail, at least one of said shunts including electrical coni PAUL w:LEFFLER.

Witnesses:

HARRY D. KrLcoRr., .JAs. F. WILLIAMSON.

